Paralympics: Cyclist win GB’s first medal – Channel 4 News Share on Twitter The Welshman, the penultimate rider in the time-trial, raced the 1km in a factored time (see box, below) of 1:08:471. He was beaten into gold medal position by China’s Li Zhang Yu. ParaGB’s Darren Kenny, who won four gold medals at Beijing, narrowly missed out on a podium finish, coming in fourth. Kenny and Colbourne were strong medal hopefuls for ParaGB in the team’s first final of the competition. Kenny, who is classified as a C3 rider and suffers from cerebral palsy, won four gold medals and a silver at the Beijing games, two golds and a silver in Athens, and was the gold medallist in the 1km time trial at this year’s Para-Cycling World Championships in Los Angeles. Colbourne was also a gold medallist at the World Championship this year in the C1 classification time-trial – the category for the most severely physically disabled cyclists. Also racing today for ParalympicsGB was Richard Waddon (C3), who won a silver at Beijing in the time-trial.

The race Darren Kenny was the first of the British team to race, and on entering the race the time to beat was from Russian Alexsey Obydennov who completed the 1km in a time of 1:10:995. Kenny raced the kilometre in eight-tenths of a second faster than the Russian to take top spot with seven cyclists left to race. Moments later Li Zhang Yu knocked Kenny from the top spot with a new world record for teh C3 competitors, and a factored time (see box below) of 1:05:021. Kenny was pushed further down the leader board by the next cyclist, German Tobias Graf, broke the world record for the C2 competitors and moved into silver medal position. Rik Waddon was the second cyclist for ParaGB, and moved into sixth position with a time of 1:11:394. Colbourne, the penultimate rider, then moved into the silver medal position with one rider, Argentinian Ricardo Lopez, left to race. Lopez then came in seventh. The individual time trial is a race with a simple format.

Twenty eight cyclists were racing 1km around the track with the fastest time winning the gold. The difficulty comes because of the different classifications, with the more severely physically disabled C1 cyclists racing against the less physically disabled C3 competitors. A factor is applied to the finishing time of each cyclist based on previous average times from races in their classifications. The least disabled cyclists have no factor applied to their times. Kenny was 19 when, as a promising junior rider, he suffered head and neck injuries on the Tour of Ireland. The crash led to Kenny developing cerebral palsy – damage to the motor control centres in the brain affecting movement. Colbourne, 42, broke his back in a para-gliding accident and Waddon has cerebral palsy. Storey books her place Earlier today Sarah Storey , who was born without a left hand, got team GB off to a cracking start by breaking the world record in the Women’s C5 Pursuit by more than a second. It is the 72nd world record Storey has broken in her glittering career, having previously competed in swimming before changing to cycling at Beijing. Storey is now guaranteed either a silver or a gold medal when she races at 4:31pm.

Crystal Lane will also compete for Great Britain & Northern Ireland, racing for bronze. Crystal Lane will compete to add a bronze to Para GB’s medal count. Cyclist Sarah Storey wins GB's first London 2012 Paralympic gold medal | Metro News Julian Shea for Metro.co.uk Thursday 30 Aug 2012 3:52 pm Sarah Storey has won Great Britain’s first gold medal of the London 2012 Paralympics with a crushing victory in the women’s C5 individual track pursuit. Sarah Storey’s victory was never in doubt as she passed her opponent halfway through the race (Picture: Getty Images) Storey had already broken her own world record in qualifying for the final and her victory was never in doubt as she took just half of the race’s 3000m distance to overhaul Poland’s Anna Harkowska. This is the eighth Paralympic gold medal that the 34-year-old has won – just three of which have been on the track, with the other five coming in swimming. Storey represented England at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and was also a contender for a place in the 2012 Olympic cycling squad.

Talking about her victory afterwards, Storey said ‘I was thinking ‘not this lap, maybe the next one I’ll catch up with her’. ‘You’re just willing the other rider to come close to you so you can finish as quickly as possible.’ Cycling: Sarah Storey wins Team GB's first gold medal of the Paralympic Games | The Independent Cycling: Sarah Storey wins Team GB's first gold medal of the Paralympic Games Thursday 30 August 2012 16:00 BST Click to follow Cycling: Sarah Storey wins Team GB's first gold medal of the Paralympic Games 1/2 Sarah Storey with her gold medal GETTY IMAGES Mark Colbourne Sarah Storey with her gold medal Sarah Storey won Great Britain's first gold medal of the XIV Paralympics with a supreme victory in the women's C5 three-kilometres individual pursuit at the London 2012 velodrome.

After Mark Colbourne won silver in the men's C1-2-3 one-kilometre time-trial, fastest qualifier Storey caught final opponent Anna Harkowska of Poland after six and a half of the 12 laps to triumph to rapturous applause from the 6,000-capacity partisan crowd. The 34-year-old from Manchester won her eighth Paralympic title and third as a cyclist in a career which began as a 14-year-old swimmer in Barcelona in 1992. Storey was in contention for the Olympic team pursuit squad until last December and her heat time of three minutes 32.170 seconds was quicker than Joanna Rowsell's time in winning Track World Cup on the same track in February as she confirmed her status as favourite. Crystal Lane qualified fourth and had to settle for a place outside the medals, finishing in 4mins 02.773secs as New Zealand's Fiona Southorn claimed bronze in 3:55.867. Storey said the victory was not as easy as it looked. ""Mentally you've got to prepare, anything can happen," she told Channel 4.

"I have to respect all my competitors. "I didn't expect to be able to catch her as quick as I did, I stepped my game up as well. "So much goes into it emotionally that nothing's ever easy at this level." Asked what she was thinking as she chased down her opponent, she said: "Just, 'gotta get there quick, quick, quick!' "I was like, 'It's not gonna be this lap, maybe the next lap...' "You're just willing the rider to come to you as quick as possible so you can just finish." Storey now has another three events to prepare for. "I always said if I could get off to a really great start that would set me up for the rest of the week and hopefully that's the case," she said.

"The first one's always the hardest to get out of the way and to come away with a gold medal is a dream come true." PA Paralympics 2012: a dream come true as Team GB gets off to golden start - Telegraph Advertisement Paralympics 2012: a dream come true as Team GB gets off to golden start We were told to expect the extraordinary, and Great Britain’s Paralympians made good on their promise as they delivered courage, determination, and plenty of medals. Cyclist Sarah Storey wins GB's first Paralympics gold medal, followed by a gold for swimmer Jonathan Fox, leaving GB third in the medals table on the opening day Photo: Getty Images/PA By Gordon Rayner , Chief Reporter 10:00PM BST 30 Aug 2012 Follow While their Olympic counterparts took five days to strike gold, cyclist Sarah Storey won Paralympics GB’s first gold medal on the opening afternoon as she broke the world record on the way to winning the C5 individual pursuit title. Within hours, swimmer Jonathan Fox had won the men’s 100m backstroke to take GB’s first gold medal in the pool.

Together with three silver medals and two bronze for GB’s athletes, it left Great Britain in third place in the medal table overnight, behind China and Australia. Storey has now won three Paralympic cycling golds and five as a swimmer (Eddie Mulholland) Storey, 34, won her eighth gold medal of her Paralympic career, having won five golds as a swimmer before switching to cycling, in which she won two more golds in Beijing four years ago. Storey, who was born without a functioning left hand, narrowly missed out on selection for the London 2012 Olympics. She was in a different league to the opposition as she broke the world record in her heat and caught the Polish rider, Anna Harkowska, just after halfway in their 3km run-off. She described her victory as “a dream come true” and could add more medals to her collection of 19 when she competes in the road cycling later in the Games.

Related Articles Swimming: Frenzy of flag-waving greets pool victory at last 31 Aug 2012 Her team-mate Mark Colbourne, a former able-bodied volleyball international, took silver in the men’s C1-2-3 cycling 1km time trial just three years after he injured his back in a paragliding accident. Great Britain's Jonathan Fox celebrates receiving his gold medal (PA) By winning gold in the pool, Fox managed to do what none of GB’s Olympian swimmers had done at London 2012, and with silver medals from fellow swimmers Hannah Russell and Nyree Kindred, the Paralympians have already bettered the medal haul of GB’s Olympic swimmers after just one day of competition. Fox, who has cerebral palsy, said of his win: “It was really, really amazing. When you touch the wall the crowd just roars.” Visually impaired 16-year-old Russell took silver in the women’s S12 400m freestyle and Kindred came second in the S6 100m backstroke to win GB’s first medal in the pool.

The atmosphere in the stadia was every bit as electric as it had been during the Olympics, and some venues had more paying members of the public than they had done for Olympic events because fewer seats had been allocated to VIPs and the media. It helped Ben Quilder, a visually impaired athlete, take bronze in the men’s under 60kg judo competition and weightlifter Zoe Newson take bronze in the women’s under 40kg powerlifting competition, in which she bench-pressed 88kg. Colbourne’s mother, Margaret, 70, who watched alongside his 18-year-old daughter, Jessica, fought back tears of joy as she spoke of her son’s achievement.

She said: “I’m just so very proud of him, I only wish his dad could have been here with him.” She added: “It’s been incredible, the amount of support for the Paralympians - it’s one of the biggest so far and we’ve just had such great support.” Prince William and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, watch the cycling action at the Velodrome on the opening day of the London 2012 Paralympic Games (Getty) GB’s athletes were cheered on by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, who spent time in the velodrome and the aquatics centre. At every venue, athletes repeatedly challenged the perceptions of the possible, as Wednesday night’s opening ceremony had promised they would. Among them was the Chinese swimmer, Tao Zheng, who has no arms. He won the men’s S6 100m backstroke in the pool, beating other swimmers who had one or two arms and setting a new world record in the process.

Tao Zheng of China competes in the Men's 100m Backstroke - S6 final (Getty) London 2012, the first Paralympic Games to sell out, will be the biggest ever staged, with 2.5 million paying spectators over 11 days of sport. Paralympics: GB gold medal winners of London 2012 - CBBC Newsround Paralympics: GB gold medal winners of London 2012 9 September 2012 Image copyright Reuters ParalympicsGB set a target of winning 103 medals in the 2012 games. They've smashed that target by winning 120 - made up of 43 bronze, 43 silver, and 34 gold. Here's the list of every Paralympics GB gold medal. SUNDAY 9 SEPTEMBER 34. DAVID WEIR - MEN'S T54 MARATHON Getting his fourth gold of the games, David Weir made it look easy as he raced through the streets of Central London. Crowds roared him on and afterwards he said the games had been "amazing the whole way through".

SATURDAY 8 SEPTEMBER 33. DAVID STONE - CYCLING MIXED T1-T2 ROAD RACE Stone held off Italy's Giorgio Farroni to take the chequered flag, with Czech David Vondracek finishing third. It was Stone's third Paralympic gold of his career after winning two in Beijing, as well as a mixed time-trial bronze in London. FRIDAY 7 SEPTEMBER 32. JOSIE PEARSON ATHLETICS - WOMEN'S DISCUS F51/52/53 Josie broke the world record not once but three times to win gold. Her longest throw was a mighty 6.58m beating the previous world record of 6.13m. But it's not just the discus that takes her fancy, she represented Great Britain at Wheelchair Rugby in the last Paralympic games at Beijing in 2008. THURSDAY 6 SEPTEMBER 31.

JONNIE PEACOCK ATHLETICS - 100M T44 Teenage sprinter Jonnie Peacock powered past his hero Oscar Pistorius to grab gold in a hugely tense 100m T44 final. It was the event everyone was talking about and Peacock delivered - with a new Paralympic record of 10.90 seconds. Image copyright AP ATHLETICS - 800M T54 Wheelchair racing superstar David Weir made it three golds out of three at London 2012. The 'Weirwolf' was roared home by the crowd in the Olympic Stadium as he held off tough competition to win the 800m. He could make it four golds in Sunday's marathon! Image copyright ALLSPORT/GETTY IMAGES 29. HANNAH COCKROFT ATHLETICS - 200M T34 'Hurricane' Hannah Cockroft lived up to her nickname when she destroyed her rivals in the 200m T34 wheelchair sprint.

She set a new Paralympic record of 31.90 seconds to win her second gold of London 2012, following her 100m victory. Image copyright ALLSPORT/GETTY IMAGES SWIMMING - 400M FREESTYLE S7 British schoolboy Josef Craig became a Paralympic champion at the age of 15! He broke the world record in his heat and then AGAIN in the final! The teenager, who has cerebral palsy, said it was the happiest day of his life. 27. SARAH STOREY CYCLING - WOMEN'S C4/5 INDIVIDUAL ROAD RACE The 34-year-old cyclist has now won four gold medals at London 2012. She's now got 11 golds in her collection, the same amount as British record holders Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson and David Roberts. 26. HELENA LUCAS SAILING - 2.4MR CLASS Image copyright PA Lucas has won ParalympicsGB's first ever sailing gold. She was the only woman in the competition and finished nine points ahead of Germany's Heiko Kroger.

WEDNESDAY 5 SEPTEMBER SWIMMING - SM8 200M INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY Image copyright AP Winning Britain's sixth swimming gold, 17-year-old Hynd was more than four seconds behind France's Charles Rozoy after the first 50m, but overtook him, and took gold! 24. SARAH STOREY CYCLING - WOMEN'S ROAD TIME TRIAL C5 Storey has won her third gold of London 2012. She stormed to the finish line in the time trial, finishing nearly two minutes ahead of the rest of the athletes. TUESDAY 4 SEPTEMBER ATHLETICS - MEN'S 1500m T54 Image copyright AP Weir has scooped up his second gold of the Games. He managed to speed his way to victory on the track, defending the 1500m Paralympic title he won in Beijing. 22.

SOPHIE CHRISTIANSEN EQUESTRIAN - INDIVIDUAL FREESTYLE Grade Ia Sophie Christiansen won her third gold medal at the Games to take Great Britain to their best ever Paralympic equestrian medal haul of 11. 21. HEATHER FREDERIKSEN Frederiksen retained the title she already held from the 2008 Beijing Paralympics. 20. DANIELLE BROWN ARCHERY - WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL COMPOUND FINAL In an all-British final, Brown beat her team-mate Mel Clarke. Clarke could have won if she'd got a 10 with her final arrow but she could only manage a seven, allowing World and European champion Brown to claim victory. 19. MICKEY BUSHELL ATHLETICS - MEN'S 100m T53 Image copyright PA Mickey crossed the finishing line with his competitors far behind. Mickey's dad was brought to tears by his son's win. "Despite the nerves, once out on track he said he knew it was just time to get on with it," he said.

MONDAY 3 SEPTEMBER SWIMMING - WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY 200M SM6 Image copyright Getty Images Taking her second gold of a possible four, she showed her delight by saying: "To do another personal best, I am chuffed.... it is amazing to do this in front of this home crowd." 17. NATASHA BAKER EQUESTRIAN - INDIVIDUAL FREESTYLE TEST GRADE II Image copyright PA Natasha Baker has won her second gold of the Games. She and her horse Cabral rode to a Paralympic record score of 82.8% in the freestyle test, two days after winning the championship test. SUNDAY 2 SEPTEMBER ATHLETICS - T54 5,000M Image copyright Allsport/getty images Wheelchair racer David Weir rounded off a golden Sunday for ParalympicsGB when he stormed to victory in the T54 5,000m. It's his seventh Paralympic medal. He won two golds at the last Paralympics in Beijing - in 800m and 1,500m. 15.

JESSICA-JANE APPLEGATE SWIMMING - 200M FREESTYLE S14 Image copyright Allsport/getty images Sixteen-year-old Jessica-Jane Applegate, who has Asperger's syndrome, set a new Paralympic record of 2:12.63 to take gold in the pool. 14. LEE PEARSON, SOPHIE WELLS, DEBORAH CRIDDLE, SOPHIE CHRISTIANSEN EQUESTRIAN - MIXED TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP Image copyright PA The foursome won Great Britain's fifth team title in a row. GB are unbeaten in the equestrian team event ever since it was introduced to the Paralympics in 1996. It gave Lee Pearson his 10th Paralympic gold medal! 13. SOPHIE CHRISTIANSEN EQUESTRIAN - INDIVIDUAL DRESSAGE Image copyright PA Sophie Christiansen was first out in the individual dressage. She and her horse Janeiro 6 scored a whopping 82.75% - and no one came close to challenging that! 12.

ANTHONY KAPPES AND CRAIG MACLEAN (PILOT) CYCLING - MEN'S INDIVIDUAL B SPRINT Image copyright Reuters Partially-sighted Anthony Kappes and his pilot Craig MacLean beat their GB teammates Neil Fachie and pilot Barney Storey to first place in the tandem sprint. The good news came a day after they disappointingly failed to finish in the 1km time trial. 11. ALED DAVIES ATHLETICS - DISCUS F42 Image copyright Getty Images Welshman Aled Davies won gold with a massive throw of 46.14m, a new British record, in the discus F42 final. It's his second medal having won a bronze in the shot put. 10. DAVID SMITH, JAMES ROE, NAOMI RICHES, PAM RELPH AND LILY VAN DEN BROECKE (COX) ROWING - MIXED COXED FOUR Image copyright PA The British team beat their rivals Germany at Eton Dorney in a closely fought race to take GB's first rowing gold. It was good news after two fourth-placed finishes for other GB boats.

SATURDAY 1 SEPTEMBER SWIMMING - 400M FREESTYLE S6 Image copyright AP Ellie Simmonds defended her 400m title in style by setting a new world record - finishing a whole second ahead of her US rival Victoria Arlen. 8. SARAH STOREY CYCLING - INDIVIDUAL C4-5 500M TIME TRIAL Image copyright Reuters Sarah Storey won her second gold of the Games with a time almost a second quicker than her nearest rival. 7. NATASHA BAKER EQUESTRIAN - INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIP TEST GRADE II Image copyright PA Natasha Baker won Great Britain's first equestrian gold medal of the 2012 Paralympic Games. 6. RICHARD WHITEHEAD ATHLETICS - MEN'S 200M T42 Image copyright Allsport/getty images Double amputee Richard Whitehead set a new world record when he won gold in the 200m in the T42 category. There were almost no seats left in Olympic Stadium when he triumphed in front of a crowd of 80,000 people. 5.

NEIL FACHIE AND BARNEY STOREY (PILOT) CYCLING - MEN'S B TANDEM 1KM TIME TRIAL Image copyright PA Partially-sighted Neil Fachie and his guide Barney Storey took gold in world record time for GB in the tandem 1km time trial. Barney matched his wife Sarah Storey's gold in the Velodrome! FRIDAY 31 AUGUST ATHLETICS - WOMEN'S 100M T34 Image copyright Getty Images Wheelchair racer 'Hurricane' Hannah Cockroft took the first athletics gold medal for Great Britain. She also holds the honour of being the first person to set a world record in the Olympic Stadium, which she achieved at a test event in May. She adds the Paralympic medal to her title of world champion and world record holder in this event. 3. MARK COLBOURNE CYCLING - MEN'S INDIVIDUAL C1 PURSUIT Image copyright Getty Images Mark Colbourne took gold in the 3km men's pursuit and set a new world record. He was also GB's first medallist of the Paralympic Games when he won a silver medal on Thursday.

THURSDAY 30 AUGUST SWIMMING - MEN'S 100M BACKSTROKE S7 Image copyright PA Jonathan Fox had already stormed to the finish line in his qualifying heat and set a new world record time of 1:09.86. He didn't beat that in the final but was still speedy enough to come first. Gold number two for ParalympicsGB! 1. SARAH STOREY CYCLING - WOMEN'S INDIVIDUAL C5 PURSUIT Image copyright PA Sarah Storey has managed to keep her Paralympic title from Beijing in the women's individual C5 pursuit. She won after beating Poland's Anna Harkowska in the final, ParalympicsGB's first gold of the Games!

Paralympics 2012: Sarah Storey wins Britain's first gold - BBC Sport BBC Sport Paralympics 2012: Sarah Storey wins Britain's first gold By Mike Henson BBC Sport at the Olympic Park 30 Aug 2012 From the section Disability Sport Share this page Media playback is not supported on this device First gold medal for Paralympics GB cyclist Sarah Storey 2012 Paralympics Wednesday, 29 August to Sunday 9 September Coverage: Extensive daily coverage across 5 live, 5 live sports extra and the BBC Sport website Sarah Storey swept to victory in the C5 Pursuit final to win Great Britain's first Paralympic gold of London 2012 and the eighth of her own career. The 34-year-old tore into the gap to Anna Harkowska and passed the Pole just after halfway in their 3km run-off. I didn't expect to be able to catch her as quickly as I did Sarah Storey Storey, who broke a world record for the 72nd time in her career in qualifying, has another three medals in her sights at London 2012.

Earlier, team-mate Mark Colbourne won silver in the C1-3 1km time trial. Storey and Colbourne's successes are the first contributions towards ParalympicsGB's target of 103 across the whole of London 2012. Cycling will be key to that total having delivered 17 golds in Beijing and Storey never looked like being denied a repeat of the Pursuit title she won four years ago. "I didn't expect to be able to catch her as quickly as I did," said the Briton. "Hopefully this race will set me up for the rest of the weekend. I suppose it did look easy but mentally you have to prepare and make it happen. I have to respect all my competitors." Until December the 34-year-old was also in contention for a place at the Olympics as part of the non-disabled team pursuit squad. "Sarah is Sarah. She wants to keep proving to the Olympic team that she needs to still be in consideration, alongside the younger generation that are emerging.

She has put a time in there in qualifying that proves she is still world class and while there are four other people who the Olympic selectors thought were better than her last time, she is telling them not to overlook her. I'm sure she would jump at the chance to get back involved with the able-bodied squad." Mark Bristow,two-time Paralympic cycling champion and 5 live analyst The trio of Dani King, Laura Trott and Joanna Rowsell were eventually preferred and justified their selection with gold in a world record time in the Velodrome earlier this month. Denied her chance to become the first athlete to represent Great Britain at both Games, Storey sent an ominous message to her Paralympic competition as she improved on her own C5 world record in qualifying. Her time of 3:32.170 would have been good enough for silver ahead of fellow Briton Wendy Hovenaghel at the non-disabled track world championships in Melbourne in April. Harkowska's own mark in the heats was 16 seconds slower and Storey immediately started reeling her in, opening up a six-second advantage in the first 1000m before bringing the final to an early end.

Born without a functioning left hand, Storey's Paralympic career began back in Barcelona in 1992 where, as a 14-year-old, she won two swimming golds. Media playback is not supported on this device Storey wins GB's first Paralympic gold In 2005 an ear infection which prevented her training in the pool prompted her to try cycling as a way to keep fit in the meantime. She never returned to the water. Colbourne's Paracycling career is far shorter, the Welshman having started the sport in the wake of a paragliding accident in May 2009. The 42-year-old underlined his promise as he added Paralympic silver to the three time-trial medals of the same colour that he has won at World Cup events so far this year. "I've worked for the last eight months towards this. A big thanks goes to all the coaches for getting me into the best shape possible," he said. "We've done this hundreds of times in training and it's about repeating the process.

I probably only heard the crowd on lap three when I had relaxed into my stride." Six-time Paralympic gold medallist Darren Kenny finished outside the medals in fourth, however, as Chinese champion Li Zhang Yu left the rest of the field trailing by more than thee seconds with an extraordinary world record. Share this page Paralympics 2012: Sarah Storey wins gold in women's cycling time trial | Sport | The Guardian Paralympics 2012: Sarah Storey wins gold in women's cycling time trial • Medal puts her one short of Tanni-Grey Thompson's marker • 'I can't believe I'm being put on the same page as her' Britain's Sarah Storey holds up the Paralympics cycling gold medal she won in the women's C5 road time trial at Brands Hatch.

Photograph: Andrew Winning/Reuters Wednesday 5 September 2012 15.39 EDT First published on Wednesday 5 September 2012 15.39 EDT Close This article is 4 years old Almost 20 years ago to the day, Sarah Storey recalls, she was the "new, young" member of the British Paralympic squad who had just won her first gold medal, and was somewhat in awe of the all-conquering Tanni Grey. On Thursday Storey – now 34, not 14, and a cyclist rather than a swimmer – could equal the mark of 11 gold medals held by Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson. "Just to be anywhere near Tanni is incredible," said Storey after a triumph in the women's C5 road time trial at the Brands Hatch circuit, her third gold of London 2012 and her fifth in all on the bike. There were four British time trial medals on the day: Storey's gold, silvers for Mark Colbourne in the C1 class and Karen Darke in the H1-2 handcycle event, and a bronze for David Stone in the T1-2 trike equivalent.

Storey said: "I can't believe I'm being put on the same page as her. Tanni's a good friend and an incredible athlete and such a lovely girl. Just to be even spoken about her in same breath is an incredible honour." Grey-Thompson is not the most decorated British Paralympian – Mike Kenny, a swimmer, won 16 golds between 1976 and 1988 – but she is the mark against which all her modern equivalents seem to be measured. Already at these Games the previously unbeatable dressage rider Lee Pearson has stumbled in his widely anticipated tilt at an 11th or 12th gold. While Storey's final event is the road race, and as such prone to more tactical vagaries and random mishaps than timed road or track events, few would bet against the Cheshire native gaining gold No11. The 10th was secured in imperious fashion, by almost a minute and a half over the silver medallist, Poland's Anna Harkowska, in an event that lasted a shade over 20 minutes.

Storey said she was desperate for success on the road after two titles in the velodrome: "This has been where all my preparation's been done, so I really need to nail this one here today, and obviously having watched the success of the Olympic team on the road and Bradley [Wiggins] winning the time trial, and Chris Froome getting the bronze medal, I just wanted to make sure I added my name to that list of success." She has now matched she five golds collected in the pool from 1992 to 2004 in just two Games since changing sports to combat persistent ear problems. Storey said her background made her a better all-round athlete: "The discipline swimming has given me has allowed me to train on my own for hours. That discipline of just being up early and training constantly by yourself is something you can't replace. I'm so glad I was a swimmer for as long as I was." Such is Storey's competitive nature that her first comment after finishing was that she wanted to check her time against the men's C5 race to "see where I would have placed".

The answer – not a direct equivalent as Storey's 16km race amounted to two out of three laps for the men – was that she would have been eighth, more than two minutes quicker than her British team-mate Jon-Allan Butterworth. Poor Butterworth: winner of three silver medals on the velodrome, he was grazed and bandaged after a training crash the previous day, coming 13th out of 14 riders. The crash had an unusual cause, he said – a British tandem: "Going down one of the descents I was on the racing line and got taken out by a tandem. It knocked my handlebars and I went down pretty heavily, about 50kmh, something like that." Butterworth diplomatically refused to name the riders involved, but only one tandem couple are racing in the time trials, Lora Turnham and her sighted pilot, Fiona Duncan. After two fourth places on the track they endured more heartbreak – the pair led on the first two laps before a mechanical problem halted them for more than a minute, pushing them down to sixth.

Colbourne, 42, who only turned to cycling after a 2009 paragliding accident broke his back, missed out on gold by just 13 seconds despite the hilly circuit not suiting his impairment. He said: "If you look at the course, with my disability – no hamstrings, no feet working, no glutes working – you put me on an 11% hill and it's like somebody takes my batteries out." He added: "My legs are not my friends at the moment." In the handcycling, Rachel Morris could only come fifth in the H3 class, which she won in Beijing. But this was an achievement in itself given that just eight weeks ago she was struck by a car in training, suffering injuries she initially thought would force her to withdraw. In the H1-2 equivalent there was a silver for Darke, the 41-year-old British Paralympic debutant, who decided to take up the sport after watching the Beijing Games in bed following a sea kayaking accident. In the trike class, for those unable to balance a bike – for example because of cerebral palsy – the double Beijing gold medallist David Stone took bronze.

Britain now has six cycling gold medals and 19 medals in all. Four of the golds and a silver have come from the Storey family, after Sarah's husband Barney piloted Neil Fachie in two tandem track races. If the Storeys were a nation, they would be 24th on the overall medal table, just above South Africa. Storey claimed ignorance of this: "We'll leave the stats to you guys and look through the newspapers when we get home." London 2012: Simmonds leads gold rush for GB's medal winners | The Independent London 2012: Simmonds leads gold rush for GB's medal winners Seventeen-year-old swimmer beats her US rival and smashes world record Saturday 1 September 2012 23:00 BST Click to follow The Independent Online Golden girl: Ellie Simmonds won the S6 400m freestyle race AP Ellie Simmonds, widely considered the face of the Paralympic Games, started her 2012 campaign with a contribution to yesterday's ParalympicsGB gold rush, smashing the world record in the process.

The swimmer, who became a sensation in Beijing when she won two gold medals at the age of 13, successfully defended one of the two titles she won four years ago by winning the S6 400m freestyle race. Her record-breaking swim saw one of many world records obliterated at this Paralympic Games, already looking like the most competitive in the history of disability sport. Ireland's Jason Smyth last night proved that he was still the fastest Paralympian on the planet, running the T13 100m in a record-breaking 10.46 seconds. In the Velodrome, Great Britain's Sarah Storey also set a world record to take her second medal of the Games in the C4-5 500m time trial. In the Olympic Stadium, Richard Whitehead smashed his own world record in the T42 men's 200m, claiming gold in a time of 24.38 seconds, shaving six-tenths of a second off the time of 24.93 seconds he had set at the European Championships in the Netherlands in June.

The dressage rider Natasha Baker also broke records, taking gold in her Paralympic debut in the grade II individual equestrian event, with a score of 76.857 per cent. The third day of the Games saw a slew of medals for Great Britain, as the home nation leapt briefly to second in the medal table. But a tally of five golds, five silvers and six bronzes was not enough to hold back the Australian team, which took a rash of awards to take second place. Even this failed to diminish the euphoria after Simmonds finished first in a time of five minutes 19.17 seconds to claim one of three medals for ParalympicsGB. Last night at the Aquatics Centre, she shaved a massive five seconds off the previous world record of 5:24.46, set by the American swimmer Victoria Arlen in June. The 17-year-old from the US was viewed as Simmonds's biggest rival before the race and so it proved to be. Arlen finished what turned out to be a nail-biting encounter in second place with a time of 5:20.18.

It was the American who touched first at 200m, enjoying a slight lead over the home favourite, and she continued to hold a slight advantage at the 300m mark. But Simmonds fought back over the next 50m to take the lead after 350m, and stretched her advantage over the final 50m. "I'm so pleased to touch and get a world record and a five second personal best," said Simmonds. "I knew it was going to be so tough leading into it with Victoria being on form and I knew I had to give it my everything and give it my all. That last 50 hurt, it just killed me." She described the event as "one of the toughest races of my life so far". There had been some doubt whether Arlen would be able to swim against the 17-year-old Briton yesterday, as earlier in the week the American had been ruled ineligible to compete as her impairment was not deemed severe enough. After the US Paralympic Committee made a protest, the appeal was upheld.

Simmonds, who was born with achondroplasia, a form of dwarfism, had comfortably qualified for last night's final in the morning, in her first appearance of the Games, beating her own Paralympic record with a new time of 5:24.64 in the first heat. Her quest for London 2012 gold was one of the British public's most awaited events of the Paralympics. The remarkable swimmer, from Walsall, captured the hearts of the public at Beijing, and before the Games was voted the athlete the public is most excited to see. Her achievements in 2008 were the start of a string of firsts, as she became the youngest winner of the BBC's Young Sports Personality of the Year that year and then the youngest recipient of an MBE at 14. She began swimming at the age of five and started competing against non-disabled children at the age of eight. At 10, she was talent spotted at a disability event, later working her way through to be selected as the youngest member of a senior British swimming squad for the 2006 IPC World Championships at 12.

Simmonds's gold followed success for Matthew Whorwood, who claimed bronze for ParalympicsGB in the S6 400m freestyle. The 22-year-old won with a time of 5:11.59 behind Ireland's Darragh McDonald and Sweden's Anders Olsson. Claire Cashmore added to the medal haul with silver in the SB8 100m breaststroke with a time of 1:20.39. She finished behind the Russian Olesya Vladykina, who broke her own world record with a time of 1:17.17. Swansea-based Simmonds will be back in action at the Aquatics Centre tomorrow in the SM6 200m individual medley. On Tuesday, she will swim in the S6 50m freestyle, and on Saturday try to defend the S6 100m freestyle title she won in Beijing.

Question: Which cyclist won GB's first Gold medal of the 2012 Paralympics, the first of her four?
Answer: SARAH STOREY